Cloistered Oysters

[Tripp]

well, apparently Biden's staff is pretty great. Like, he has the most loyal staff and they're pretty great at whatever it is they do.  Y'know... he's suppose to put people at ease about foreign policy stuff.  And I like that he got super-pissed at Bush about supporting the troops (his son is in Iraq I think)

[Tripp]

but yeah, he IS kinda there to balance out the crusty old white dude contingent.

[Tripp]

On the news  there were some jack-asses who wouldn't shut up about " I can't believe Barack didn't pick Hillary for VP!"   WELL HE DIDN'T!!  TRY REPORTING WHAT HAS HAPPENED YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT!!

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

One of the great things about Tuesday is the Science Times section in the NY Times.

Today they spotlight sci fi writer Vernor Vinge's new novel "Rainbows End."

His subject matter is the impending "technological singularity" when our machines inevitably become smarter than we are (by 2030, he figures).

Vinge suggests we learn to collaborate better with computers in order for humanity to remain relevant:

    Allow human/computer teams at chess tournaments. This has also been suggested by Garry Kasparov. It still seems to me that allowing such entrants in human tournaments need not be obtrusive, and would ease the general acceptance of the symbiosis idea. It would also be interesting to see if top players came to recognize that such teams displayed a new style of play, different from the styles of pure human and pure machine competitors.

    As time passed, it would be cool if chess tournaments became like the one shown in my novel, “The Peace War.” (Unfortunately, I suspect that researchers are not enthused by the idea because it would make progress milestones much more difficult to identify.) It would also be interesting to see this in the game Go.

    Develop human/computer symbiosis in art. Of course, parts of this are being deeply exploited. However, we’re still missing a very important possibility and this is collaboration closer to the point of creativity itself. Karl Sim’s “picture breeding” was a super example of this: The program would generate a screen full of abstract art thumbnails and the user (artist) would select particular thumbnails to be the “seed stock” for the next iteration of the process. In 15 minutes, an ordinary person (such as myself) could generate abstract graphics that were as attractive (well, to me at least) as the best commercial art.

    Develop interfaces that allow computer and network access without requiring the human to be tied to one spot, sitting in front of a computer. Of course, smartphones are pursuing this avenue like gangbusters! Hopefully, wearable computing will break out into similar commercial success. There is lots of good research going on there already.

    Use local area nets to make human teams that really work (i.e., are more effective than their component members). There are a lot of commercial efforts here, with various names. The commercial efforts are still relatively static and desktop-oriented. Hopefully we’ll see dynamic collaborations that can be used with wearables (and small cameras and voice communication) like the equipment used by the team of remotely guided Marines in “Rainbows End.”

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

Glen Campbell is trying the Johnn Cash career comeback route, complete with covers of songs from "younger folk."

Here he is doing "Sadly Beautiful" by The Replacements.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AddX3jVQV3U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/AddX3jVQV3U</a>

Even when the Replacements did this song it was borderline guilty pleasure.  This pushes it way over the line.

The Rhinestone Cowboy should be covering Gary's Got a Boner or Bastards of Young instead.


You know what I liked?  The album Loretta Lynn did with Jack White.

[Bizarro]

there were some jack-asses who wouldn't shut up about " I can't believe Barack didn't pick Hillary for VP!"

WAIT, was that under discussion? I don't think I heard ANYTHING on the pros or cons of THAT.

[Bizarro]

Campbell also sleepwalks through a bluegrass cover of "Good Riddance" by Green Day.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/fPpJT3QRRnk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/fPpJT3QRRnk</a>

[Doctor Rock]

yeah. Joe Biden.

Yep, yep, yep...

Joe Biden. 

[brainfiber]

Biden's staff is pretty

uh huh huh huh

[Tripp]

hey Kurt, you need to crank this in your car

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xps7AM8HbjE[/youtube]

[Tripp]

I don't think Barack considered Hillary for VP too seriously. For one thing, she would wield more power as the head of the senate than as VP.  But the heads theorize that Obama would have instantly absorbed Hillary's backers if she'd been VP.  That Obama snubbed her and is alienating Hillary's voters.
Not true.  Obama either already has the support of most of her backers and the ones who aren't coming over are just old racists anyway and were never gonna vote for him.

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

Campbell also sleepwalks through a bluegrass cover of "Good Riddance" by Green Day.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/fPpJT3QRRnk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/fPpJT3QRRnk</a>

That song makes my life feel like an old WB teen-themed show.


Did I ever tell you that the current king of bluegrass Ricky Skaggs is a very removed cousin of mine?  Most of my kin is in Kentucky.

[Bizarro]

The whole thing was just debated to death in the media, even before he had the nomination locked in. Reporters feigning surprise at how it turned out now are just fucking retarded. crippled.

[Tripp]

Ricky Skaggs is bluegrass now?

[Bizarro]

Ricky Skaggs is bluegrass now?

I think when country radio went towards Shania and all of that mess and the middle-aged guys got tossed aside, Skaggs went the same route as guys like Marty Stuart and started playing more traditional music.